The BlogTogether Birthday Bash

Being such a large technology hub, it is not surprising that North Carolina is the home to a number of pioneer bloggers, people who have been at it for a decade or more.

The city of Greensboro took to blogging so early and so intensely (mainly due to the efforts by everyone’s blogfather Ed Cone and the early adoption of blogs by Greensboro News & Record) that it was dubbed Blogsboro in a 2005 article in LA Times. According to some, Greensboro has the highest per capita number of bloggers, and blogging is almost essential for running for local office.

Just an hour to the East of Greensboro lies the Triangle area with its several universities and the Research Triangle Park full of technology companies. UNC school of journalism adopted blogging early on as well. Unsurprisingly, the blogging craze quickly spread around the Triangle as well.

One of such early pioneer bloggers is my good friend Anton Zuiker, who recently celebrated his tenth blogiversary.

One way in which Anton is not a typical blogger is that he is not a natural self-promoter. There are so many things he did that the outside world erroneously ascribes to others (including me, especially me). For just a few examples, he was involved in the organization of the 2005 Chapel Hill BlogerCon and helped Brian Russell in the organization of the 2006 PodcasterCon. He organized Triangle Blogger Meetups for years. He founded Blog Together, the community of local bloggers. He is one of the founding members of SCONC, association of science communicators of NC. He hosts a Triangle Blogger BBQ every year at his home. He left his fingerprints in a number of online publications at Duke, UNC and NCSU.

Without Anton, the annual ScienceOnline conferences would never have happened. The Open Laboratory anthologies stem from a seed that was his idea. Science In The Triangle news-site was originally his idea. He set up Scienceblogging.org to begin with. He organized the first local food-blogging event and the first Long Table event. He is the silent force that brought a bunch of us independent bloggers together, meeting face-to-face, becoming friends, doing business together, organizing events together, etc. – what he calls the ‘Blogtogether spirit’.

And now, ten years after he started blogging, and almost six years since the foundation of BlogTogether, Anton is organizing something new – The BlogTogether Birthday Bash.

If you live in North Carolina or just happen to be in the state on October 19th 2010, and if you are a blogger or commenter or blog-reader or just a fan of a particular blogger, join us for an evening of conversations and community and fun (and a few drinks).

Come to downtown Durham and have something to eat in one of the wonderful local restaurants. Then come to Casbah at 7pm where there will be a cash bar for drinks. A number of bloggers will stand up and tell a story that in some way relates to their blogging, perhaps how their blogs changed their lives. As Anton explains:

We’ll ask a handful of bloggers to get up on stage and tell a story about what blogging has meant to them or done for them, and share a highlight of something they’re particularly proud of having accomplished because of blogging.

After half a dozen or so prepared stories, we’ll throw it open to the crowd for anyone who wants 5 minutes to share a highlight or read a memorable post or thank someone in the audience for their blog mentorship.

You can see who has registered so far and if you can join us please register today, bring your significant others or friends, and let us know if you are willing to get up on stage and tell us your blogging story.